Boston had the bases loaded in both the eighth and ninth innings, but Scutaro GIDP to end the former and after three walks in the ninth, Reddick grounded out 3-1 to end the later.

Pedroia's at-bat in the seventh is worth noting. He took a 2-1 pitch from Wilton Lopez that was low and away. It was in the exact same place as balls 1 and 2, but home plate umpire Laz Diaz called it strike two. Diaz and Pedroia exchanged several words as FY got ready for the next pitch. Pedroia drilled it past first baseman Brett Wallace and down the right field line. While sprinting to first base, Pedroia turned around and yelled back at Diaz. Once he was at first, he yelled again at the home plate ump. I'm not sure I have seen a batter continue an argument with the HP ump while running out a hit.

Pedroia disagrees with the call.

NESN shows that Strike 2 was the in exact same spot as Ball 1 and Ball 2.

Pedroia lines the 2-2 pitch to right field.

He runs down the first base line...

...and turns back to yell at Diaz.

And two pitches later, after sliding across the plate on Adrian Gonzalez's double, Pedroia got up and stomped his foot on home plate, to emphasize that he had scored, as Diaz presumably stared daggers at him.

A couple of connection between the two teams: Astros manager Brad Mills was Terry Francona's bench coach for six years (2004-09), and Houston's third baseman Chris Johnson is the son of Boston's first base coach, Ron Johnson.

Carl Crawford is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list on Sunday - and was hoping to be able to play in his hometown - but Francona says that's unrealistic.

Norris is a 26-year-old right-hander, and is in his third season with the Astros.

Other stuff: Youkilis is back after fouling a ball of his left foot on Wednesday. ... Francona may go with the Ortiz 1B/Gonzalez RF tomorrow. ... Tito also wants to play Yamaico Navarro soon (SS, LF or RF)

I remember the first time we had to leave Luna at the vets overnight. She was about four months old, and she and Smokey had never been apart since birth. We were sure Smokey would be upset, be confused, act differently in some way. Nope, he just acted as if she had never been part of his life. When she returned, he sniffed her and acted like she had never left.

Tala re Cody, she seemed sad for a few days. It was much worse when we left Cody for her surgery. Tala was so depressed - stayed in her crate and moped, didn't eat the whole time Cody was gone! I wondered if it had something to do with all of us going to the place together, then returning without Cody. (We didn't expect or plan that.)

We left Diego at home when we took Tala to the vet this time, because we knew we had to leave Tala there for x-rays, and we went off and did errands afterwards. He was fine when we got home. But we took him with us when we picked her up, and he was VERY happy to get her back!

I bet that was it----she saw Cody go off and she was left behind. Maybe if she had been home, she wouldn't have noticed? Who knows! They are a mystery.

Cats are very intuitive about comings and goings. As soon as a suitcase comes out, they hide under the bed. We now know to lock them out of the bedrooms so they cannot hide and make it difficult for us to get out of the house!

And I swear Cassie gets this sad, quizzical look, as if to ask, "Is this a trip I am going on or one where I have to stay home?"